


Finding The Elemental

by The_Silver_Shadow



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Animal Transformation, Avians, Bird/Human Hybrids, Capture, Elemental - Freeform, Elemental Magic, Elements, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Fiction, Fights, Forced Bonding, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Hybrids, Magic, Mermaids, Mermen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Original Character(s), Planets, Series, Solar Systems, Sorceress, Stars, Team Bonding, Transformation, WIP, Witchcraft, different planet, different universe, merfolk, shape shifting, shifting, sorcery, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2018-12-23 17:05:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11994168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Silver_Shadow/pseuds/The_Silver_Shadow
Summary: A million light years away, in System Vivus lies a planet called Variabalis, the only planet in the solar system that can sustain life, such as Avians, Merfolk, and Transformers. Avians, a hybrid of bird and human hide in the shadows of trees in Aerlo. Merfolk, a hybrid of fish and human live underwater in the majestic city of Olera. Transformers, a shape shifting breed of humans that can turn into any terrestrial animal live in hiding in the underground tunnel system.Not too far from the three places is Capitis, ruled by the Vortex Warriors and the homeland to everyone who became slaves after the war.In the same system on the planet Aelyn, TS13072 has escaped and is now on the run. He was born to have no emotions. No knowledge. No thoughts. Just power. Pure and powerful energy. But like all things, power like this can not be contained.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Watercast](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7921288) by [Fishwrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishwrites/pseuds/Fishwrites). 



> Hi this is my first work and I'm excited to see where it goes. I update at least once a week if I can and I hope you enjoy!

**Date: Classified. Location: Aelyn.**

Bright lights consisting of white and red flashed around me. Alarms, blaring scarlet and screaming their hearts out stuck to the pale, gray walls. The cement underneath me shook. An unfamiliar energy was growing inside me, filling me up as fast as a hummingbird’s wings can beat. I didn’t understand what was going on. I was afraid.

_What is this place? What is going on? Who are these people?_   Thoughts and more thoughts swirled through my mind. Then the people in white came.

Covered in thick, silver bodysuits, the figures appeared to have some sort of weapon in their fat gloves. They all pointed them at me, yelled something unrecognizable, then pushed a button on whatever they were holding.

As if almost in slow motion, explosions erupted from each weapon, which, I then realized, was a some sort of gun. Why were they shooting at me? Did I do something wrong? Even if I did, I didn’t want them to fire at me.

So I submitted to the growing adrenaline within me.

The electrical cords and wires shot out from the guns barely grazed my neck as I shrank down to the ground. Screams and yells were thrown around, along with the heavy thuds of footsteps approaching me. They still had the guns. Every nerve in my body shrieked for me to escape the weapons.

I slithered across the ground and through the crack in the door. How I managed to slip through, I don’t know. The alarms were even louder outside. The blinding white lights seared spots into my vision, making me almost run into a wall.

It’s still not clear to how I managed to escape the building, leaving stupefied, “VW’s,” as I heard them call each other. It’s also still unclear as to how I made my way to to a nearby spacecraft and launched myself to the planet Variabilis without even knowing it.

There was one and only one thought that stuck in my head. I had to stay away from those people. The people that did this to me. The people that did this to TS13072.

I was born to have no emotions. No knowledge. No thoughts. Just power. Pure and powerful energy.

But like all things, power this great can not be contained.


	2. Chapter I: Aaron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Aerlo. Time: 16:36. Subject: Avian, N/A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter! Please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes!

**4 and a half years after that. Location: 3.75 miles from Aerlo.**

   Cold, harsh wind rushed under my wings, lifting me higher and higher, closer and closer to the clouds. The giant masses of dark gray puff drifted lazily through the air. Not like me. I was flying through the sky faster than a cheetah runs, my wings beating in short, fast strokes. Ahead of me, I could almost see the dry fields of dead grass and untouched land. I didn’t even feel fatigue. It was one of those rare moments where I felt _free_.

   Then the rain came.

   I hadn’t even noticed it had been getting darker by the second until the first raindrop hit my eye, temporarily blinding me as I rubbed the spot. Then more raindrops came, hitting my wings, back, and head. The water plastered my clothes to my skin, causing me to shiver. The sky darkened to a deep gray, the sun’s light no longer visible.

   I groaned, mentally cursing the weather for ruining my one happy moment. But I had to get down to the village before my wings start weighing me down and drag me to the ground-

  _Thud._

   Something barreled into my back, sending me tumbling through the air, a tangle of limbs and feathers.

   “Hey! What the-” I started but was cut off by someone turning me around, orienting me, and shaking my shoulders.

   “What in the world are you doing out this far!?” Oh no. I recognized that voice. It was Maria. One of my best friends and the perfect substitute for an overprotective, bossy mom.

   “Do you have any sense in that walnut you call a brain? What were you thinking? Did you not notice it’s starting to storm out here? I was looking for you everywhere-”

   “Geez, Maria, calm down. I was heading back anyways before you came.” I cut her off, shaking the strong grip of arms from me and turning around and flying in the direction of our home. Or rather, _her_ home. A home was a place where you live with the people you care about. I had no one waiting for me to come back.

   Maria huffed. “Well, for your information, Xenos just came by. I told him to stay at our meeting spot while I go look for you, so you better fly fast unless you want him disappearing again without even seeing you,” she responded, catching up to me and flicking the back of my head. Then she zoomed past before I could snap back. I grumbled and flew faster after the Latina, despite the growing ache between my shoulder blades due to the weight of my now soaked wings.

   Xenos was a strange person. He called himself an air elemental. I’m not really sure if that’s true or if he just made it up, but he’s still my only other best friend. Even if he looks like an invisible person with cotton balls and some kind of “heat” waves to outline his figure. He has this way of... matching Maria’s and my personalities.

   Maria was a born-to-be rebel. If she doesn’t agree with it, she’ll do anything to make it go down. She’s stubborn and really annoying at times, but she’s the first friend I’ve ever had back when my family left to help a rebellion and disappeared, along with hundreds of other Avians. She’s the one who took me in and gave me a home. I still don’t think I’d ever be able to repay her for that.

   I shook my wet black hair from my eyes and flapped my wings in quicker beats to catch up with Maria.

 

 

   By the time we got back to the village, a giant settlement in the trees, it was already mid-afternoon and I could barely feel my hands and feet through my fingerless gloves and flight shoes, a flexible, rubbery boot-shaped footwear that provided traction for us to land and take off and was still light enough to fly with.

   Luckily, a certain air elemental was there to get Maria and I situated.

   Xenos appeared from behind a giant, wet leaf carrying a solar lantern. He waved it towards us, the yellow light emitting from it wobbling between the trees.

   “You’re back! Finally! How far did you guys even go?” he ranted, ushering us into a hut in the hollow trunk of a tree, our secret meeting area.

   The hut was about the size of bedroom altogether, with one room and a bathroom in the corner. There was a roof made out of straw, leaves, and dry mud and walls made of thick bamboo stems. Torches blazing with blue fire were mounted on the walls and the room was littered with all sorts of things, ranging from Maria’s dirty socks stuffed into the corner to Xenos’ strange collection of stones laid out across the table in the middle of the room. Three colored couches surrounded a brown, wooden table in the middle of the room, one for each of us. Xenos got the gray seat, Maria the green one, and I the red one. Actually, basically everything in the hut was based on those colors. The mats and towels all had their separate owners based on their colors, the three chests pushed up to the walls of the room were all colored, and even the painted wooden floor was split into three sections, each colored red, green, or gray and all matching the location of the corresponding couches. It had taken the three of us almost an entire week to color the area. A month if we include the days Xenos wasn’t here.

   “Aaron, the little rascal you see over here," I bowed dramatically. "went all the way past the Aerlo border, past the entire jungle itself, and was almost reaching the desert when I caught up to him,” Maria responded once inside the hut as she stretched her auburn wings and kicked off her flight shoes. She walked to the back of the hut and opened our trunk full of blankets. “Here, take one.” Maria tossed a dark red towel to me. “You don’t want to get hypothermia.”

   I raised my hand, mimicking a chattering mouth but caught the towel as it was thrown and dried myself off, wrapping it around my shoulders and wings and taking a seat in my chair when I was done.

   Xenos came after me, bringing a plate of chips with him. Maria walked to her own chair, grabbing a handful of the snack as she went, leaving the bowl almost half-empty than it had been before. I made a whining noise but reached for the chips anyways.

   “So, past the border and the forest? That’s a new record, man!” Xenos clapped me on the shoulder. I smirked.

   “I could’ve gone farther, you know?” I bragged.

   “Well, you’re not going anymore. Not without us,” Maria objected, leaning back and stretching her long wings out to the ends of the chair. I frowned, but quickly wiped the expression off of my face. If I just wanted to be isolated from society and spend my days flying around the world alone, why even have friends in the first place? Maria and Xenos were the closest things I had to a family. I was never going to leave their side.

   “So, Xenos. What’ve you been up to recently?” I asked, reaching for another chip. “The usual. Went to Terrel this time though-” At the mention of the word, I choked on the food in my mouth and started coughing. Maria snorted, laughing uncontrollably and smacked my back. I swatted her hand away and turned to Xenos, my eyes wide. “You went to _Terrel_? One of the Five Worlds?”

   Xenos shrugged. I couldn’t believe it. He was acting all casual about a thing like going to one of the five most famous planets!

   Xenos claims to have come from a different solar system. Maria and I were born here in Variabilis, along with thousands of others. “I thought you promised us you’d take us with you next time you went,” I said, a ferocious look in my eyes. Xenos stared at a spot on the wall, not daring to make eye-contact with either of us.

   “Xenos, why do you keep leaving us like this?” Maria asked. I knew her words didn’t just mean his strange trips to different planets. Xenos finally looked at me, his floating yellow eyes boring into my own. I stared him down in return.

   “Listen to me, Aaron, Maria. If I could take you with me, I would. But now isn’t the time. I promise, when the moment is right, I’ll bring you somewhere other than Aerlo,” Xenos said, sounding way too mature for his age. I didn’t know what to think of his response. This is what he said every time he came back after another trip. But Maria still believed in his promise. She should’ve given up a long time ago. We both knew that Xenos’ guarantees meant nothing. Yet, she refused to lose hope in him. I, on the other hand, was getting impatient with his fake promises and disappearances.

   I pressed my lips together in a firm line, just about to start yelling at him about how unfair it was that we had to be stuck in Aerlo all the time while he was off exploring, bla, bla, bla. But the moment I opened my mouth, a flash of light exploded in the hut. Maria and I covered our eyes, letting out surprised yells. After a few moments, I heard a thud and peeked through my hands covering my face. My eyes widened, raging fires building in the dark pupils.

   Xenos had disappeared once more.


	3. Chapter II: Alana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Olera. Time: 17:06. Subject: Mers, N/A.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third chapter! Please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes!

**Location: Olera.**

   “Bet you I can reach the cliffs faster than you can.”

   “Oh really? Is that a challenge I hear? Bring it on, clam-face!”

   Bubbles whizzed around me as I spun around and swept my purple tail down in a strong, elegant arc, leaving the doomed Italian boy in the dust.

   A coral reef came up fast and I ducked and dodged the sharp edges, knowing that I was only going through the area because of the shortcut it created. Flowers of all colors bloomed in between the cracks underneath me, wilting as my sense of life left its keen radar.

   Finally, the reef was past me and I spotted the big, steep cliffs a couple yards away. Sparing a second, I turned my head around to watch for my opponent. Nothing but empty, blue water.

   Perfect. That mush-brained excuse for a racer won’t ever catch up now-

    _Bam._

   Something hard and solid rammed straight into me, causing me to ricochet in the opposite direction, long, silver hair in my face and tail flailing, desperately trying to grab ahold of something other than water to stable myself. Luckily, a cool hand grabbed my wrist, stabilizing me.

   “Hey, thanks-” I paused mid-sentence, my mouth agape and violet eyes wide. “Xenos!”

   The bubble filled figure looked a little surprised and confused, as if he had just suddenly forgot where he was. Then he seemed to realize I was there and smiled, the bubbles at the corners of his golden eyes popping. I tackled him in a hug, the scales at the corners of my own eyes glowing bright purple with excitement. My tail wrapped around his torso semiconsciously.

   “You’re back! It’s been _forever_! Leo wouldn’t stop complaining about how boring it is down here without you! Well, he did say that he doesn’t have to deal with your, as I quote, ‘Boasting and bragging all day long.’ But it’s ok! I know he loves you! Holy Olera, I still can’t believe you’re back! Where did you go this-” My ranting was interrupted when a certain Italian boy tackled us both in a big hug.

   “Xenos!” Leo yelled, nearly squeezing the life out of the water elemental and me. “Hey, Leo. Alana. How’ve you guys been doing? Leo, I heard from Alana that you were a bit glad that you didn’t have to listen to my-” Xenos started. The turquoise scales on Leo’s face lit up brightly in surprise and he held up a finger, pulling away and squinting at me.

   “I thought we agreed not to speak of that,” he huffed. Then he turned to Xenos. “I had to find _something_ positive about your mysterious departure. Otherwise, I would have had an existential crisis on my hands.”

   “I hate to break up the bromance happening between you two, but we have more important things to talk about... after I beat all you guppy-finned losers to the cliffs!” I shouted, racing off with a mischievous glint in my eyes. To me, everything was a race.

   “Hey! That’s not fair! We weren’t even ready...” Leo’s voice drifted to silence as I got farther away from the two of them. Xenos had already started racing after me, leaving bubbles drifting around after him as he raced by.

   The cliffs were up ahead, covered in moss and seaweed. The water around the area had a calm, intelligent feeling. If that made any sense.

   The cliffs had been Xenos, Leo, and my hide-out since the day Xenos had helped us prank the VW’s hanging out above ground, the restricted area for the Merfolk. It’s been two years since we’ve met him. But we’ve only seen him for a complete total of about one year due to his departures. I don’t mind as much as Leo does. He doesn’t have any other friends besides Xenos and I; and by his attitude for the past two years, he’s not all that elated about having to play ‘Dodge the Stingers’ every weekend with me when Xenos isn’t around. I, on the other hand, at least have activities- like races- to keep me busy. I guess that’s just what makes Leo and I different.

   A sharp sting in my tail interrupted me from my thoughts. I looked down for a moment, catching a glimpse of red before I crashed into something hard for the second time in the hour.

   With scraped hands, I cradled my throbbing head in my arms, scales flashing on all sides and tail curling around myself to form a small, purple ball. I realized that I had not only made it to the cliffs in record time, but had _hurled_ myself into the cliff wall.

   Senses cleared and vision returning to its normal state, I unhinged my hands from my hair and turned around, squinting and checking for any signs of Xenos or Leo. Then I spotted a flash of silver before the water elemental was swimming beside me, berating in a different language and examining the scrapes on my hands.

   “Xenos! I’m fine, geez,” I protest, pushing a few feet away with my tail, just enough to get out of his grasp. “Where’s Leo-”

   “Holy Olera, guys! I’m not _that_ fast at swimming, but thanks for thinking that way! Just don’t leave me to talk to the remnants of where you used to be next time,” Leo panted, popping out from behind a clump of seaweed. He frowned, looking me up and down. “What happened to you?”

   “Turned around for a second to look for you suckers and crashed into the wall,” I replied, clearly annoyed. Leo looked surprised for a second, the scales at the corners of his eyes flashing. Then he realized my humiliating rookie mistake and started snickering behind his hand, which, soon turned to full out double-over-and-do-acrobatics laughter. His dark-brown hair drifted through the water.

   Xenos rolled his eyes. “Ok, that’s enough, Leo. C’mon, let’s go inside before anyone hears you.” The water elemental lead the way through the hidden entrance in the slab of stone beside us. I followed him and Leo finally controlled his fit of laughter enough to enter the cavern as well.

   Glowing stones surrounded us on all sides, the dimly lit rocks emitting a soft, turquoise color, matching Leo’s light blue scales. The walls were inky and smooth, reflecting the light cast upon it and shining it deeper into the tunnel like a flashlight in a dark hallway. Shells, crabs, and other things of the sort littered the stone. I unconsciously started twisting the pink-ish, purple-ish seashell around my neck, a gift from my father for my fifth birthday. He wasn’t at home very much anymore. Not with all the work he has to do in the Council of Olera.

   Finally, the three of us came to a giant boulder stuck in a wall. A keyhole the size of a quarter was plastered in the middle of the stone.

   “So, now that we’re far enough inside, Xenos, where’ve you been?” Leo asked, twisting his tail around and plucking a scale from it. I did the same.

   “Try to guess,” Xenos replied, picking a bubble off of his arm and lining it up with ours. Leo and I stuck our scales inside Xenos’ bubble, put it into the keyhole, and pushed it all the way in, hearing the familiar click of the lock.

   “Uh, Caleya? The small town north of here?” I asked as the boulder started to move to the right, exposing a dark room.

   “Nope. Try again,” Xenos replied, walking into the room and lighting a carbon flame stuck to the stone wall.

   “Wait, I’ve got it. It’s Belora. I swear, it’s like nobody ever goes there anymore-” Leo smacked his head on a stray rock stalactite, sending him tumbling backwards and stopping him in mid-speech. “Ow,” he moaned, holding his head in his hands. I snorted and Xenos shook his head, grabbing Leo by the tail and pulling him over to his blue, seaweed made seat. Xenos and I sat in our gray and purple seats as well.

   “It’s not Belora. Do you give up-”

   “Wait, wait, wait! I only guessed once!” Leo cut Xenos off, waving his hands around.

   “I only guessed once too and I’m not complaining,” I said.

   “Well, that’s your problem. I wanna guess one more time-” “I went to Terrel,” Xenos stated. Leo and I gawked at him for a full two minutes. Even Leo, who has always been notorious for speaking whatever he thinks, no matter how immature it is. Xenos got annoyed and snapped his bubbly fingers in our faces. “Are you two done yet?”

   “But _how?_ ” I practically shouted. “Terrel is in a completely different solar system!” Leo said, throwing his arms out in front of him. Xenos just smirked and shook his head, probably thinking about how childish Leo and I were acting. Well, he wasn’t wrong there.

   “And how come we don’t get to come?” I asked, curious. That made all the cheerfulness disappear from Xenos’ face, his expression growing cold.

   “I’ve told you this before. I’ll bring you when things clear up, ok? Just be patient-” “Alana has a point. I'm not mad, but you’ve said that countless times already. Why won’t you just tell us how you do this?” Leo interrupted Xenos, again. It wasn’t a good idea.

   “I have to go now,” Xenos said, standing up and floating towards the door. “Wait! Xenos! We didn’t mean to-” A blinding white flash cut me off. Leo and I threw up our hands to shield our eyes, tails curling curling up instinctively.

   By the time we opened our eyes, the water elemental was already gone.


	4. Chapter III: Marco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Geo. Time: 18:21. Subject: Transformers, N/A.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes!

**Location: The West Tunnel in Geo.**

   “Just leave already!”

   I stumbled outside of my house, fuming. My dad had kicked me out, again. This was the fourth time this week. Worst part was my sister, Laia, wasn’t home yet to stand up for me. Back to Daya’s house. Again.

   I hitched my backpack with all my failed inventions and parts over my shoulder, pushed my glasses farther up my nose, and shifted into a cougar. My bag shifted with me, turning into the fur covering my back. I took off in a sprint, the artificial bright lights above illuminating the dirt tunnels and stony ground in front of me.

   This had been my fourth attempt to escape from Geo. And apparently a homemade “drill” wasn’t going to cut through the stone walls. And neither was a water-powered filter. Nor a high- pressure vacuum. This had also been the fourth time my dad had gotten fed up with my crappy inventions and kicked me out so that he could clean up the mess.

   But, in my own defense, Daya, my best and only friend, had been the one to invent the machines, not me. I only did the ideas and calculations part.

   It took me an average of about an hour to get to Daya’s house, a weathered residence in Geo, with other houses on all sides, unlike my isolated home. The closed wooden doors and windows prevented most of the yellow light emitting from inside from spilling out.

    _They’re home,_ I thought, letting out a relieved sigh and shifting back into my human form. I walked up to the door and did the code Daya once taught me.

   Knock twice, both times slowly.

   Knock once fast and once slowly.

   Knock once fast, one slow, and one fast again.

   Knock slow, then fast, then slow, then fast.

   Knock slow, knock fast, then knock slow.

   The door opened at the last rap and a fifteen year old girl with short, dark hair and coffee colored skin appeared at the doorway, a big smile on her face.

   “Hey, Marco! Got kicked out again? Which invention was it? I don’t care. You’re here now and that’s what matters. Come in!” she blabbered, kicking the door wide open for me.

   “Thanks, Daya. Is your brother here?” I asked, setting my orange bag down on the hard, tiled floor. I took a moment to admire the ancient painting on each tile, all colorful and unique with their own different patterns of pigments.

   Daya shook her head, rolling up the sleeves of her black jacket. “Nah. He’s gone out to the farms to get some food. Do you want anything?” she asked, gesturing to the small pantry in the corner.

   “Just water, thanks,” I replied, slipping my worn sneakers off and setting them in the corner where two other pairs of shoes sat.

   Trevor, Daya’s older brother, was a Transformer just like Daya and I, meaning we were able to shift into any land related animal, like a squirrel or a lion. But no amphibians, birds, sea creatures, insects, or reptiles. Just terrestrial mammals.

   Daya got two cups of water and grabbed my hand, dragging me upstairs with her to her room, a chamber of pinks, oranges, and grays. Sunsets- or, what we were told they had looked like long, long ago- looked as if they had been captured and pasted onto the walls. In a cozy nook at the far end of the wall sat three colored chairs, pink, orange, and gray, matching the wallpaper.

   “I’m assuming Laia wasn’t at home?” Daya asked, handing one of the cups to me and closing her white curtains, turning the once streaming light pale yellow. I shook my head.

   “Yeah, she left for extra classes about thirty minutes before my dad got home-”

   A sudden “bang” at the window stopped me. I frowned, standing up and peeking through a crack in the curtains.

   It was completely pitch-black outside.

 _What happened to the lights?_ I thought. _Is there another blackout? I get that the underground tunnels are really dark, but it’s never looked like_ this

   Thud. Another bang at the window. I yanked the curtains away fully before I realized that it wasn’t dark outside. There was thick, black mud and dirt covering the window.

   Daya made a revolted noise as I opened the door with a sickening squelch. There, right outside the house, was the one and only earth elemental. Xenos.

   “You could’ve just knocked!” Daya shrieked as she shifted into a mouse and scurried out the open window, disappearing from my sight.

   “I didn’t want to get dirt all over the door! Better your personal window than your brother’s property!” Xenos yelled back, gesturing to his sandy arm. “Hey, Marco! Long time no see!”

   I waved back in return. Daya had apparently reached Xenos and appeared behind him, smacking his head. Dust fell off his scalp as he whined and rubbed the spot. Daya stood there, waving her arms around and berating him in a different, unrecognizable language.

   “So are you two coming up or am I just going to have to complain about life all by myself?” I asked sarcastically after a minute or two. Daya snorted and shifted into a mouse again while Xenos’ figure separated into sediment, flying into the open window and reforming the body. Daya scampered into the room just before I shut the window, shifting back into her human form and taking a seat on the purple couch as I did on the orange one and Xenos the gray.

   “So! I already heard Marco got kicked out again- which, as you can probably see, is why he’s sitting here right now-” Daya started.

   “Your auto-punching machine didn’t work!” I complained.

   Daya ignored me. “So what about you, Xenos? What is your drastic reason for having to visit the great therapist Daya?” she asked, sitting back in her chair, propping her feet up on the desk in front of her, and sipping her water with her pinky up. Very dramatic.

   “Actually, I do have something to ask the therapist,” Xenos said, smiling and leaning forwards. I think I saw a hint of nervousness behind that smile. “What should a person do if they’re suffering from extreme weight differences after visiting Terrel?” I was right. Through the dust and dirt, there was hesitation and worry flashing through Xenos’ glowing yellow eyes despite the smirk on his face. And unfortunately, his response didn’t get the answer he was hoping for. Daya’s normally beaming face became a frown that, I swear, could wilt a flower. The joyful energy around her turned dark as she set her cup onto the table and sat up straight, crossing her arms. It was scary when she became like this. Daya was the kind of person that could change from the happiest being on the planet to a literal demon.

   I unconsciously shrank farther into my seat, nervously twisting the copper-colored ring on my finger and nails fiddling with the small, orange gems. The earth elemental sighed softly.

   “Not _again_... I thought this time it would be different,” Xenos muttered. I frowned, glancing over at him. What did he mean by “this time?”

   “Xenos, I thought you swore last time that you would take us with you. We’re sick of this trash dump. We’re sick of always having to hide from the VW’s. We’re sick of the entire planet itself! You know that Transformers aren’t even allowed to to see anything aboveground, right? You probably don’t even think about that. I mean, look at yourself. Always traveling and exploring entire _planets_. You, the great earth elemental, managed to get to _Terrel!_ All while Marco and I are stuck here, underground, and _way_ too busy being bored out of our minds to do anything useful. And last time you _promised_ \- no, I take that back. You _swore_ you would bring us with you and you _lied_ , Xenos. Do you even understand how Marco and I feel about that?”

   Xenos and I gawked at her. Even I hadn’t known how much Daya cared about leaving Variabilis. Sure, the place was as boring as watching an ant make its way across an endless table for an hour. But people living here got used to it. Except for Daya and I. We had always been different from the other Transformers; kids and adults alike. We were outcasts and we didn’t care.

   Xenos had started twiddling with his fingers, averting our gazes and sitting as still as the pebbles that littered his figure. Daya was still fuming, piercing gaze never leaving the earth elemental’s turned head. After a while, Xenos finally seemed to come to his senses and sighed again. Not out of annoyance, but of disappointment. I watched him wordlessly as he stood up, muttering something close to an apology. Daya took it just as well as she had before.

   “Oh, so now you’re just going to leave us here again, aren’t you? Just like you always do! Run away from all your problems! Never wanting to face them!” Daya stood up, still shouting at the retreating figure of Xenos. He was almost downstairs now, feet leaving the last step of the staircase. Dust particles drifted after him, only visible because of the bright light filtering in from the windows.

   I heard the door slam shut, suddenly shaking me out of my trance. Xenos was leaving again. And who knew how long he was going to be gone this time? To the elemental, time was indefinite.

   “Xenos, wait! Come back!” I scrambled to the window, throwing it open and shifting into a brown cat.

   “Marco! Leave him...” Daya’s voice faded away as I jumped off of the windowsill and landed on the ground underneath, my limbs trembling from the jolt of hitting the ground. Shaking my fuzzy head, I spotted a dark figure making his way out of the tunnel and towards the main chamber. He was already yards away from the house. I wasn’t going to stop though.

   My cat form morphed into one of a cheetah’s and I raced off as fast as I could in the direction of Xenos, a low growl emitting from my throat. He was so _complicated_! Sure, he was in the wrong, but Xenos shouldn’t have reacted like that, just ditching us with no explanation of any sort!

   Then came the flash. A burst of white light from the horizon where Xenos had left to. My golden-brown fur stood up at an end and my ears flattened themselves downwards.

   It was a loud grumble that made me open my eyes, scanning the tunnel for any sign of the earth elemental. Daya’s low swears confirmed my answer.

   Xenos was gone again.


	5. Chapter IV: Xenos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: 141 miles from Geo. Time: 19:53. Subject: Vortex Warrior, N/A.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday!  
> Sorry, this chapter came out a bit later than intended. Anyways, here's the fourth chapter! Please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

**1 hour after leaving Geo. Location: 141 miles away from Geo.**

   Xenos had a lot to complain about. How each transformation between elements took so long to get used to. The constant feeling that he was going to float away into the sky as air. The burning pit in his stomach as fire. That heavy feeling cast upon his back and shoulders as earth matter. And the strange, gut-twisting sensation of his stomach always swirling about as water. And don’t forget the fact that all his friends from the three different lands all hated him now. He couldn’t have brung them to Terrel with him! And Xenos had a million different reasons as to why.

   First of all, none of his friends had ever stepped a foot outside of their kingdom. Or, rather, flown for Aerlo. All except for Aaron. The boy was born to escape. He and Maria couldn’t be contained anywhere. But even then, Aaron barely made a couple miles out of Aerlo. Besides that, none of the teenagers would have any idea as to what _anything_ was on their planet outside of their own familiar territory, much less on a completely different planet.

   Second, Xenos didn’t even know if Avians, Merfolk, and Transformers’ lungs could adapt to the space air, where only small oxygen bubbles roamed. As an earth element, Xenos was able to survive the harsh environment without the need for oxygen. But not _hybrids_.

   Third, Xenos wasn’t going to the Five Worlds for _fun_. He was going there only to find out more about his past. Where he came from. Who he really was.

   Lastly, Xenos knew all six of his friends had been born in Variabilis and lived their for their entire lives. He wasn’t taking any chances with their reactions if they found out more about a new planet. Xenos didn’t want anyone to decide that they wanted to stay there. Even Aaron, who didn’t have anyone but Maria to miss him if he left. Leo would still have his mom and siblings to look after, Daya would have her brother, Marco would have his sister, and both Alana and Maria would have their parents. If only Aaron’s brother hadn’t left...

   Xenos wasn’t prepared to face any of them for the moment. Maybe in a month or two he could come back and apologize-

   A loud rumbling shook him from his thoughts. The elemental, currently in the form of air, spun around and scanned his surroundings. Nothing but the empty desert. It only took a moment for Xenos to look up for approachers, but a moment was all it took.

   The VW’s finger pulled the trigger, arm nearly snapping from the force of it being activated. A suction gun. Meant for one target. TS13072.

   Xenos’ legs were taken up first, his head snapping back and arms flailing wildly, desperately trying to free himself from the air current.

    _Oh no... No... NO! It’s happening all over again! The exact same thing,_ he thought. The VW held the weapon steadily, metal arms creaking against the energy being released from the firearm.

   Waist, abdomen, chest, it was all being sucked up. Soon, the air elemental would be trapped in a glass jar once more, subjected to experiments and tests.

   But if he was going to go down, if his fate was sealed, then Xenos was going to make sure he went down with a fight.

   Just before his elbows were pulled down into the gun barrel, Xenos managed to grasp the leg of the VW which had been hanging out in front of him, directly within his reach. The soldier’s steam-powered jetpack faltered for a second, just enough time for gravity to take hold and bring it crashing down to the ground, headfirst. And, unfortunately, bringing the top half of Xenos with him.

   The device regained its power, shooting streams of white puff into the air as it propelled the VW faster towards the desert ground. Beeping noises and warning sounds emitted from the suit and the robot quickly pressed a series of buttons on the jetpack, attempting to right the two and only resulting in unclipping it, sending the VW and Xenos plummeting the rest of the way. The fall wasn’t too far, but far enough to knock the air out of Xenos.

   The gun was still turned on, though. And only Xenos’ head was left sticking out of the gun. Without even knowing it, his instincts kicked in and, with whatever energy he had left, sent out a message to the only people he trusted. A huge gust of wind flew out of his fingertips, blowing sparkling pebbles and rocks towards their destinations. Xenos gave one last gasp for air before he was pulled the rest of the way into the darkness that had awaited him for the past four years.

   Later on, he will come to know that the message he sent out didn’t end up with the people he thought would receive it.


	6. Chapter V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Aerlo Training Deck. Time: 13:45. Subject: Avian, Sorceress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Here's the fifth chapter!  
> As always, please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

**Two days afterwards. Location: Aerlo Training Deck.**

   Maria spun in the air, wings tucked tightly to her back as she turned her body to nosedive towards the ground. She pulled out her green blaster and aimed it at the target, closing one eye and holding her hands as still as they could stay, despite the ferocious wind whistling in her ear and the bright sun glaring into her open eye.

   Then she fired. A white blast of light erupted from the nozzle of the blaster, shooting towards the translucent mark in the distance. Wings snapping out and feet kicking into the air, Maria righted herself and watched the blast hit the target straight onto the bullseye.

    _That’s seventy-eight points already,_ she thought, hovering in the air to catch her breath. _Two more minutes and I’ll go down to-_

   “Hey, Maria! Can I talk to you for a minute?”

   The familiar voice of Aaron reached Maria’s ears and she smiled, twirled around, and tucked her blaster into her back pocket.

   “Well, it’s not like you _can’t_ talk to me.” She noted his dark outfit. “And don’t you ever get hot when you wear black all the time? Especially in the summer?” Maria joked, sweeping her long, brown hair into a ponytail. Aaron frowned and tugged at his black t-shirt.

   “I’m willing to suffer if it makes me look less like a vampire and more like an emo teenager. Plus, it matches my wings,” he replied. Maria snorted and put her hands on her hips, right above where her jacket was tied around her waist.

   “So what’s up?” she asked.

   “If I say the sky, will you shoot me with your blaster, or take it as a joke like any normal person?”

   “I’d chase you into oblivion first, _then_ shoot you. Without hesitation, too. Because that joke is just _old_.”

   “I didn’t know you cared _so much_ about me,” Aaron commented sarcastically.

   Maria smiled. “So? What’d you want to tell me?” she asked.

   Aaron gestured to his tent hidden in the trees. “You see for yourself. I’m not the best person at describing stuff, and you know that,” he said.

   Maria squinted at him, checking for any signs of a lie behind his crimson eyes. Nothing. Maria sighed and flew down to the dark tent with Aaron right behind her.

   They landed at the door and the boy opened it, letting Maria in first before entering himself. The place was neat and tidy, but that wasn’t a surprise. Aaron didn’t have much stuff to throw around the room. Just some clothes and gear to stuff in the chest in the corner of the room.

   Aaron walked over to his bed and lay on top of it, covering his torso with his long, black wings. He gestured towards Maria and pointed at an area and said, “Come here and look at the ceiling.”

   Maria raised an eyebrow at him but stepped to the side of the bed, tucking her wings in. She craned her neck to the side to check what Aaron was pointing at.

   “I don’t see anything-” she started, but paused when she spotted something shiny packed into the dry mud. A long, black trail of coiling darkness wove its way in between the clumps of mud in the ceiling. It was a giant maze of swirling darkness imprinted into the dirt.

   “What is that stuff?” she asked.

   Aaron shrugged. “I have no idea. But that’s not the point. Look closer. It spells out a message,” he said, pointing at the swirls. “See here. The first shape spells out the letter _S_ , then _U_ , and so on.”

   Maria turned to stare at him. “I can’t read this.”

   Aaron frowned, then his eyes widened in realization. “Oh... I forgot. Dyslexic stuff and all. Sorry.” He sat up on the bed. “It spells out _SUMMON AUGURATRICIS.”_

   Maria nodded. They were silent for a moment.

   “Did you do this?” she asked, looking at him.

   Aaron turned to her, a skeptical look on his face. “Do I look like the kind of intelligent person to know what _Auguratricis_ means? I can barely even pronounce it.” Aaron crawled off the bed, wings snapping out to keep his balance, and started pacing around the room. _This kid,_ Maria thought, exasperated. _He can’t even keep still for_ thirty seconds.

   “Do you have any ideas?” Aaron asked.

   “Not really,” Maria admitted, standing on the bed and reaching out to touch the substance.

   “Don’t bother. I already tried that. My hand goes right through,” Aaron said.

   He was right. Maria waved her finger through the darkness, watching as it engulfed her skin. It felt like mist, but ice-cold. When Maria pulled her hand back, the substance reformed back into the words it spelled out. Then she got a crazy and really, really stupid idea.

   “What if we lit it on fire?” Maria asked.

   Aaron stopped pacing. Then he spun around to face her, eyes glinting with mischief. “I’ll get a torch."

   

   Once the bed was moved, Aaron stood beneath the letters with a torch in hand. The flickering blue flames illuminated the entire room.

   “And you’re sure this won’t burn the mud on the ceiling?” Aaron asked and held the torch higher.

   “Yeah. The roof is enchanted- like everything else in Aerlo. It won’t melt or anything.” Maria replied. “I hope...” she added under her breath.

   Aaron threw her a look but raised the torch so that the flames licked the ceiling. “Here goes nothing,” he said before thrusting the torch into the letters.

   Nothing happened for a moment. The crackle of flames was all that was heard. Then the darkness moved. The letters vanished, now a giant mush of shadows all clustered together. The substance slid onto the torch and wrapped around the flames. With one quick motion, they pressed together and the blue fire disappeared with a soft ‘ _poof_.’ This all took about two seconds, but to Aaron and Maria, it seemed like an entire hour.

   With the light from the fire vanquished and the shutters on the windows closed, the room was dark for a second. Aaron and Maria stood absolutely still, Aaron still holding the extinguished torch in the air.

   “So... did it work?” Aaron asked.

   Then the shadows on the torch exploded.

   The windows shattered and the door was swung off its hinges as more of the same darkness that was on the torch poured into the room. Aaron and Maria were swept off their feet and thrown into the wall before they even had time to shout.

   All light vanished from the room and a cold, almost frightening, feeling was in its place. Then, if things could get worse, a dark figure entered the room.

    _“Who dares to summon the great Auguratricis_ \- Holy-” The figure doubled over, hacking and coughing. “What in tarnation is that awful smell? Have you people ever heard of air-fresheners- Oh, never mind. Wrong realm,” they said in a heavy Texan accent. Aaron eyed the dirty socks sitting in the corner of the room.

   The shadows retreated from the walls and pooled in front of the person talking. Finally, the two Avians had a clear view of the stranger. The person wore a long, black cloak that hid half their face, revealing nothing but pale skin and a pair of thin lips. Gnarled, wrinkled hands poked out from sleeves in the cloak and, from what Maria could see, looked like they had meddled with magic before. But despite their old form, the voice emitting out of the hood was clear and young.

   Maria crouched and reached for her blaster. Aaron just went straight for his sword by the chest. The figure was still ranting on about perfumes and deodorants.

   Maria fired her blaster straight at the person. The blast went right through as if it were shooting through a wall of thin water rather than a living being. Then Aaron appeared behind the figure and slashed right through its torso, getting the same result as Maria had.

   The figure seemed surprised at first, then it sighed. “I was hoping y’all could just do this the easy way. But if you insist,” The person snapped their fingers. In less than a second, the shadows that had collected on the ground were raised and pointed in the Avians’ direction, tips sharper than a needle. Both Maria and Aaron raised their weapons even though they knew it wouldn’t do them any good.

   There was a tense silence for a moment before Maria broke the ice. “You mentioned the name Auguratricis. Is that you?” Maria asked cautiously, testing the waters. Aaron spared her a glance from where he was.

   “Well, duh. I mean, who did you think it was? The clown you hired for your birthday? That _is_ what the huma-”

   “You’re the one who left the message then,” Maria interrupted.

   “Wow. Straight to the point then, huh? And please, just call me Augura.” Augura clapped her hands and the shadows melted into a puddle once more. Maria lowered her blaster too, but Aaron kept his sword raised defensively. “Well, to answer your question: Yes, I did send that message. Can you guess who-”

   “Why did you want us to summon you?” Aaron asked from behind.

   “Could you stop interrupting me for one second?” Augura exclaimed. Maria and Aaron went silent. “Finally! Ok, your elemental friend sent out a message to me to contact the six of you. He’s in trouble and he needs y’all’s help- No! Don’t interrupt me! I’ll get to that part!” Augura shrieked as Maria opened her mouth to ask what she had meant when she had said six. “Y’all need to learn some manners, geez!”

   Augura snapped her fingers and two tendrils from the shadows crawled out and pushed Maria and Aaron over to the chairs by the desk.

   “Alright. Now that y’all are all settled down and stuff, then I can start explaining everything.” Augura squinted at them. “And no interrupting me now, yeah?”

   Maria and Aaron nodded. His sword disappeared into its sheath on his belt.

   “Good. Now, remember your elemental friend? Well, let’s just say that y’all aren’t his only friends. He’s got two Mers and two Transformers out there.” Augura waved her hand behind her towards the door. “Get it?”

   “Wait, so every time Xenos disappeared it was to visit those other... friends?” Aaron asked.

   “Yeah. That, and to hide from the VW’s and search for information,” Augura explained, picking dirt out from under her nails.

   “Why would he need to-” Maria started to ask.

   “Shush! That’s a different story for a different time,” Augura said. “What y’all need to do is go rescue that moron. Remember how I said he was in trouble? Well Xenos has been captured by the VW’s and is probably being held in their base on Aelyn.”

   “Well, serves him right-” Aaron snapped.

   “It’s not his fault.” Augura cut Aaron off, staring straight at him. Or, at least that’s what they assumed she was looking at from behind her hood.

   “What do you mean it’s not his fault-” Maria said.

   “I don’t have time for this. I have to get to Aerlo, Olera, and Geo all in one day,” Augura complained, floating away towards the door, the shadows practically peeling off the walls in her direction. “Y’all better know how to read coordinates.” Augura flipped a piece of paper behind her onto the floor. “Get to this place within five days. Now,” she spun back to them, cloak whipping around her. “If you’ll excuse me, I gotta go convince four other people to go save Xenos together.”

   “Wait! You haven’t even explained anything to us!” Aaron shouted.

   Augura wasn’t listening. She snapped her fingers and the shadows on the walls pulled off and spun around her, swirling into a giant mass of darkness. Within seconds, Augura was nothing more but a spinning cocoon of shadows. By the time the two Avians had armed their weapons and gotten to the door, Augura had disappeared, leaving nothing but an immense feeling of distress and confusion behind.

   Aaron threw his sword to the ground in frustration. A loud clang echoed around the room. Maria pressed her lips into a thin line and patted his back reassuringly.

   “At least she gave us coordinates.” Maria picked the slip of paper up from the floor.

   Aaron nodded and hovered over her shoulder to read the message. “The desert.” he said.

   Maria took a moment to think. “Augura said we have five days to get there.” she paused, her brow furrowing. “I don’t know if I should go... My parents...”

   Aaron realized what Maria was saying and looked at her worriedly. “Maybe she only needed one of us to go?” he suggested.

   Maria’s eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously, ponytail smacking Aaron in the face. “No way am I letting you go alone!” she berated as Aaron recoiled from her shoulder, rubbing his cheek. “You’d get yourself killed within minutes of leaving! I’m going with you.” Maria shoved the paper and blaster into her pocket and started for the door.

   “Wait, just like that? What about the whole thing with your parents-” Aaron was cut off by Maria.

   “I’ll tell them I’m going to go to the labs to do some experiments and won’t come back for a couple days,” she said. “Go pack our gear. I’ll get the food and bandages. Meet at the edge of the forest when you’ve got everything.”

   “I could always just go alone. You wouldn’t have to-” the door slammed shut in his face before he could finish. Aaron rolled his eyes and waved his hands by his head. “I’m guessing that’s a,” he mimicked a high- pitched, bossy voice. _“‘Shut up, Aaron. I’m doing what I want and you can’t stop me-’”_

   A streak of blue whizzed through one broken window, sped right by Aaron’s ear, and out the other window. The blast left a trail of dust that drifted into Aaron’s face. He groaned in defeat. _That girl,_ he thought as he shoved his sword back into its sheath on his belt. _Why does she have to be so persistent?_

 _But then again,_ a semi-conscious thought brushed the back of his brain, _wasn’t that what made them so similar?_


	7. Chapter VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Olera; Leo's room. Time: 14:00. Subject: Mer, Sorceress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sixth chapter! Thanks for reading and as always, please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

**Location: Olera; Leo’s room.**

   Leo was bored. And tired. Tired of always being bored. And bored of being tired of being bored.

 _Holy Olera, I’m going crazy just sitting here,_ he thought, tossing sharp shells up into his soft, clay ceiling. The entire area above was multicolored with different seashells stuck into the dirt. All his little brothers and sisters had gone out to play with their own friends and Alana had gone out to another class on how to use her enchanted staff. In about an hour, she would be back and Leo could have _someone_ to talk to besides a homemade mannequin designed to look like another Merperson.

   Leo wasn’t able to think either. Much less be able to focus enough to finish the homework sitting on his desk, a dark aura around it. Or maybe that was just his imagination. Leo couldn’t tell anymore. His mind was having conflicting thoughts, both rushing at a million miles an hour through his brain. One half of him wanted to just lay on his bed and daydream about other worlds. The other wanted to think about Xenos.

    _Seriously_ , Leo thought, throwing another shell through the water and into the ceiling. _What is up with that guy? Alana didn’t even say anything insulting! She just asked why we both don’t get to go, nothing more. But maybe that’s why he got so angry-_

   “Leo!”

   Leo jumped three feet into the water above his bed, accidentally letting go of the seashell in his hand; which fell on his head the moment he got up.

   “What?!” Leo shrieked, looking around the room for intruders. Then a hand flicked his forehead and he glanced up to see the one and only Alana sticking her head through the window.

   “Did you miss me?” she asked, grinning.

   Leo scowled. “I did. Up until you scared the living crap out of me!”

   “It was good though, right? I’m working on my stealth. Apparently it worked. Anyways, I have something to show you. Now stop whining and get out of bed,” she said.

   Leo frowned. “But what about your class-”

   “Ditched it. I already mastered the techniques. Now get up and get moving,” Alana said.

   Leo obeyed and scrambled out the window, wrapping his turquoise tail around the frame and propelling his thin body out in to the ocean after the retreating purple figure of Alana.

   The two came to a stop at Alana’s house, pausing at her backyard.

   “So? What is it that you wanted to show me?” Leo asked, looking around for anything out of place.

   “Here, it’s at the edge of the house,” Alana noted, swimming over to the ferns and seaweed plants growing by the side of her home. Leo followed and hovered at her side, scanning the ground. Then he saw it.

   A dark, oily substance floated in the water. Any nearby fish veered away from it like it was poison.

   “Whoah. Who did this? How?” Leo asked, peering at the shadowy figure and trying to poke at it.

   Alana slapped his hand away. “Well, it definitely wasn’t me. But look at what it spells-”

   “It says _SUMMON AUGURAT_... I can’t pronounce the rest.” Leo frowned.

   Alana turned to him. “You mean Auguratricis?” she pronounced.

   Leo nodded. “Yeah. What's that?”

   Alana shrugged. “Beats me. What if we did something to the message?”

   Leo frowned and picked up a nearby rock. He dropped it in the middle of the message. The substance parted, then reformed once the rock stilled. Leo reached in and picked up the rock. No shadow things stuck on him or the rock.

   “Maybe we should try doing what it says,” Alana offered.

   Leo turned to her. “How do we do that? The message didn’t exactly include an instruction manual on how to summon these long names.”

   “I don’t know, but we could always try.” Alana said.

   “Oh, I have an idea.” Leo swam a couple feet away and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Yo, Augur- whatever your name is! I wish to summon you!”

   Silence echoed through the ocean. It seemed everything was waiting for something interesting to happen.

   “Maybe you have to say the full name?” Alana suggested.

   “I wish to summon Auguratricis!” Leo yelled.

   Silence again.

   “Well, I guess it didn’t work. Let’s think of something else-” Alana started.

   “Is Augura up there?! Hello?!”

   “Leo-”

   “Auguratricis, I choose you!” Leo shouted again.

   “Leo, Pokemon isn’t going to summon this-”

   Alana was proven wrong. Apparently it could.

   A swirling tornado of darkness engulfed both Mers. Dirt and silt flew through the air as all light vanished form the ball of shadows around Alana and Leo. Patches of seaweed from the ground in front of the house were pulled up and into the swirling mass. Then a figure emerged from the wall of darkness.

   “If you are holdin’ weapons, drop ‘em right now!” a feminine voice shouted from the figure and it raised its arms. Shadow-like tendrils with tips as sharp as sword points suddenly rose and turned to Leo and Alana.

   Both brought their hands by their heads in surrender.

   “No weapons? Good.” the figure stepped into view. It wore a pitch black cloak that hid most of their face, revealing nothing but pale skin and a mouth. The frayed ends of the cloak drifted in the water, giving the impression of tentacles ready to pounce on their prey. And despite the old appearance, the voice speaking was relatively young. It was a woman, too, Alana noted.

   “Now, I’m going to make this real quick, alright?” the woman said. “I’m Auguratricis. Augura for short. You Mers need to meet two Avians and two Transformers within five days at this location,” Augura dropped a piece of paper at their tails. “Bring whatever you need. Your friend Xenos needs your help.” she squinted at them. “Got it?”

   Alana was too shocked to respond but Leo just frowned.

   “I have a question,” he said.

   “What is it? Make it quick; I still have to get to Geo to explain this.” Augura said.

   “How’re you breathing underwater? Only sea-creatures can do that. And what is this black stuff around you?” Leo asked.

   “That was two questions but I’ll answer ‘em.” Augura picked at her nails. “I’m not from your planet. My kind don’t need air to breathe. And for your second question, this substance,” She pulled a tendril from the swirling mass surrounding the three of them. “It’s called Ink. And not the kind of ink that you write with or the substance a squid has. Ink is a very important mechanism used in my planet-” Augura stopped, seeing the blank looks on the Mers’ faces. She sighed. “Let’s just call it magic here in your world.” Augura snapped her fingers. “Alright! Now that that’s over, y’all can get movin’ and I’ll get to Geo and we’ll all be happy!”

   Leo and Alana watched as the Ink was pulled back to Augura like a magnet.

   “Y’know, I really appreciate that y’all didn’t interrupt me like the last two did. Man, they were really annoying. Alright, see you at the coordinates!” Augura said and disappeared, leaving faint traces of Ink dissolving into the water.

   Leo and Alana were still dumbstruck. Finally, after a long moment of silence, Leo broke the tension.

   “That accent was awesome,” he said. Despite the situation, Alana burst out laughing.

   “Man, what are we even going to _do_?” Alana said. “Xenos is in trouble, a creepy old prophetic lady just came to us and started shrieking orders, and then she left.”

   Leo grabbed the piece of paper in the sand. “This is in the desert... I think.”

   Alana nodded. “We can’t travel up there. At least, not that we know of.” She took a moment to think. “Wait, there’s a waterway that leads under the land. The VW’s built it to get around faster before they realized their equipment didn’t work down there.” She turned to him. “What do you think?

   “I think we should go after Xenos,” Leo replied. Alana stared at him. “Well, I mean, I’m only going if you’re coming too. So-”

   Alana cut him off by grabbing his shoulders and spinning his body to face her.

   “Leo, I need you to think about this a little more. Your mom and siblings might get worried about you if we’re gone for too long. They won’t overthink it for day or two, at most. My parents will be working in Caleya for the next few days, so I don’t have to worry about it too much. But you, on the other hand, have a family who would panic if you suddenly disappeared. So reconsider your decision. If you don’t want to go, I won’t go either. We’ll just tell the council about Xenos. The choice is up to you. No pressure, though.” Alana said, staring at Leo straight in the eye.

   Leo shook Alana’s arms off of him and replied confidently, “Screw pressure and choices. I'm scared to death, merfolk can't go onto land, and you are the worst influence that has ever impacted me, but I’m absolutely sure that I want to go find that bubble-brained moron. I’m sick of just lying around doing nothing. Are you? The part about leaving, that is; not being sick about lying around.”

   Alana smiled, glad to see the old Leo coming back. “I’m in.” She spun around to the edge of the garden and turned around. “I’ll go get our gear and the medical stuff. You bring the coordinates and pack the food. Meet me at edge of Olera, copy?” she instructed.

   Leo saluted. “Roger that. Would you like a drink and a side of fries with that?”

   Alana gave him a playful shove in the direction of his destination. “Swim along, peasant, before I shove those fries up your _nose_!”

   Leo grinned and gave her a thumbs up, already swimming off to his house, his thin, black robe swirling around him. Alana ignored the gut-feeling that something was going to go wrong and entered her kitchen, stuffing her waterproof bag with food. Not that the “waterproof” bag was going to represent what it was named for in the ocean.


	8. Chapter VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Geo. Time: 14:20. Subject: Transformer, Sorceress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The seventh chapter!  
> Sorry, this chapter came out a bit later than expected. Anyway, thanks for reading and please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

**Location: Geo.**

   “I swear it was right here when I left! In the wall! The ink was practically inches deep into the tunnel walls!” Daya protested as she watched her older brother walk away from the place.

   “It doesn’t look like anything is there. You probably just imagined it; the lights down here need to be changed anyways,” Trevor said, dismissing the topic. “I’ll be in the house if you need me.”

   Daya growled and clenched her fists. _Fine,_ she thought, spinning around and stomping away. _I’ll go get Marco to see this._

   She was already near the end of the tunnel when she heard the voice. “Daya! I was looking everywhere for you!” Marco called, appearing from behind a nearby house.

   “Marco! Marco, oh gods, you need to see this!” Daya shrieked, grabbing the boy’s wrist and dragging him back to her house.

   “Daya, what’s going on?” Marco asked, running behind her, his hand still in the girl’s firm grasp.

   “My brother didn’t believe me when I showed him. The stuff had disappeared by then. But maybe they’ll be there when-”

   She suddenly stopped, causing Marco to run into her, almost making them both fall over. Marco started to protest but stopped when Daya slapped a hand over his mouth. She wordlessly pointed at the tunnel wall. There, embedded in the stone, was a sentence spelled out with the black substance Daya had seen earlier.

   Marco gawked at the sentence and finally pulled Daya’s limp hand away from his face.

   “Did you-” he started to ask.

   “No. I tried to show Trevor this, but it had disappeared for some reason. I was hoping it would come back when I brought you. Do you see what it spells out?” she asked, pointing at the letters.

   “It says _SUMMON AUGURATRICIS_ ,” Marco replied, walking closer to the wall. “It’s Latin. But I forgot the translation.” He tried to touch the substance, but his hand went right through. Marco’s eyes flashed with recognition. “This stuff is called Ink! It’s from a completely different solar system which died hundreds of years ago! Apparently, the planet was populated with people with the ability to harness Ink and bend it to their will. They carried out deeds and could _teleport_ when summoned. But then again, it might not be the planet's inhabitants that sent this. They died out a long time ago-”

   “Yeah, sure. Who do you think did this?” Daya asked, ignoring Marco’s ranting.

   Marco gave her his best “I don’t know...” Marco chewed his bottom lip and adjusted his glasses. “Hmm... I’m getting a really stupid idea, but I’m curious so I’m going to try it.” Marco sped off into Daya’s house, leaving Daya to stare at the message.

   Marco returned in a minute with a marker in his hand. He picked up a rock the size of his fist on his way back to Daya.

   “Let’s try summoning this Auguratricis person,” Marco said. He uncapped the marker and wrote on the rock: _We Wish To Summon Auguratricis_ , and capped the marker.

   Then he turned to Daya. “Watch out for falling rocks, ok?” Marco said with a grin. Daya’s eyes widened with realization at what Marco was going to do and stepped a couple feet away from the area.

   Then Marco threw the rock as hard as he could into the air.

   It traveled a yard or two up into the air and then vanished.

   “Did it work?” Daya asked, walking over to stand next to Marco.

   “Considering that the rock just disappeared into thin air, I think it did-”

   A loud crash interrupted Marco. The Ink on the walls peeled off and circled around them. Daya reached for her dagger at her waist and grabbed the hilt. Marco had left his bow and arrows at his house and was weaponless.

   Ink from all sides was spinning around them, forming a cocoon of shadows. Marco wondered how the people in the houses around them couldn’t see this happening.

   Suddenly, a figure emerged from the swirling mass.

   “Lower your weapons!” It shrieked. Marco took Daya’s hand off her dagger. “Put your hands by your head. You’re not under arrest, but just so you don’t go for your- Ah, forget it.” Augura stepped in front of the two, ignoring Daya’s glare. “I am Auguratricis. Augura for short. Xenos is in trouble, and he needs y’all’s and two Avians and two Mers’ help-”

   “Avians and Mers? From Aerlo and Olera?” Marco interrupted.

   Augura glared at him. “I was interrupted by those annoying Avians more than enough times and I don’t intend to be interrupted again. So save your questions till the end, alright?” Augura ordered. Marco gulped and nodded. Daya looked about ready to murder someone.

   “Get to these coordinates within five days and, if everything is going well, you should meet the other four by then.” Augura said, flipping a piece of paper to their feet. “Alright. Now you can ask questions.”

   Marco cautiously raised his hand. Augura sighed. “You don’t need to raise your hand. I graduated from school centuries ago and I don't intend to be reminded of those dark ages.”

   “Your planet should have died hundreds of years ago. How’re you still alive?” Marco asked. “And the Ink on the walls-”

   “That’s none of your business. Any other questions?”

   “Avians and Merfolk are known for having been sworn rivals a couple decades back. How will they find a way to cooperate? And the theory of Merfolk being able to walk on land hasn’t been proven yet. How are the two from Olera-”

   “I guess you’ll have to find out when you get to the location,” Augura snapped.

   Marco kept talking. “And if you give us five days, Avians and Transformers are the only ones who can travel quickly on land. Even if Merfolk can walk on land, they wouldn’t have enough time to-"

   “The Mers are the closest to the end point out of the three of you. Any questions about your _mission?_ ” Augura asked.

   “Do I have permission to gauge Xenos’ eyes out when we rescue him?” Daya asked, a not so innocent look in her eyes.

   Augura smiled and pointed a long, crooked finger at the girl. “You. I like you. If you make it out of this, let's talk. But to answer your question, if you do rescue him, you can do whatever you want with him.” Then she clapped her hands twice and the Ink swirling around them was pulled back to Augura, spinning around her rather than all three of them. “Now that y’all know, you better prepare for this journey.” She cackled. “I’ll see you in the desert.”

   Then Augura vanished, leaving nothing but a tendril or two to dissipate into nothingness.

   There was a long, still silence for a moment before Marco broke it.

   “Sorceress,” he said.

   Daya turned to him. “Excuse me?”

   “Auguratricis translates to the word ‘Sorceress’ in Latin.”

   “Oh...”

   Another awkward silence settled in. This time, Daya was the one who broke it.

   “Are you also thinking about going after him, or is that just me?”

   Marco considered this for a moment. Then gave Daya a sideways glance. “No,” he said.

   Daya frowned at him. “So, that means you don’t-”

   “I mean, that you aren’t the only one thinking that. I want to go too. The plan seems a bit under explained, but I can improvise. But will Trevor be okay with you going?” Marco asked.

   Daya considered this. “Trevor won’t notice a thing if I tell him that we left for a school project that’ll bring us to the opposite end of Geo and back.”

   Marco nodded. “So, when do we leave?”

   “Once we’ve got everything. We'll need as much of a head start as possible. I’ll go talk to Trevor and get the medical supplies and gear. You go to your house and get food and water. We’ll meet in the main chamber after that. Got it?” Daya ordered.

   “Yep. Main chamber in half an hour. Got it.” Marco said before shifting into a cheetah and sprinting off into the distance.

   Daya made her way into her house, smiling the entire way. _If we get out of Geo, maybe I’ll be able to see a sunrise for the very first time,_ she thought.

   Little did she know, she was not only going to see a sunrise for the first time, but was going to be seeing Geo for the very last time.


	9. Chapter VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Eighty-six miles east of Aerlo. Time: 16:04. Subject: Avian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I present to you the eighth chapter!  
> As always, please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

  **Two hours after leaving Aerlo. Location: Eighty-six miles east of Aerlo.**

   “It looks like there’s going to be a storm heading our way!” Maria shouted above the wind. She wasn’t sure if Aaron had heard what she had said until she saw the boy point his forefinger, pinky, and thumb to the sky and fold the rest of his fingers down to his palm; the sign to fly higher. Maria did as instructed, flapping her wings faster to rise above the swollen, gray clouds.

Aaron tilted the crook of his wings up, catching the harsh wind and was propelled backwards to where Maria was flying. He regained his balance when he was even with her wingtips.

“We’re going to have to fly above the storm,” she said. “The rain will drag us down. It’ll be even worse if there’s lightning-”

“Maria, I don’t think that’s just any storm,” Aaron interrupted, pointing at the swirling mass of clouds. “It’s a tornado.”

He was right. The gray mass had been swept up in the wind and was spinning and growing, stretching its long claws towards the ground. The tendrils of gray finally found a grip on the surface of the planet, and havoc was unleashed.

A huge blast of wind erupted from where the tornado had touched down, nearly throwing the two Avians out of the skies. The desert ground was torn up, giant chunks of stone flying into the air to crash yards away from where it had once been. Lightning started to flash above, looking almost like they were competing against each other to see who could light up the brightest. Thunder rolled in waves, crashing down upon the area. Rain started to lash out from the sky, feeling more like hailstones rather than fat droplets of water.

“Aaron! We have to get out of here!” Maria yelled, shielding her eyes from the harsh wind and rain.

“I figured that out a while back, if you haven’t noticed!” he argued back, wings flapping furiously beside with Maria’s.

“Get to higher-” Maria was cut off when a surge of wind threw Aaron and her off balance, pushing them apart and closer to the growing mass of whirling clouds.

“Aaron!” Maria shrieked. She was almost entirely sure she could hear Aaron call her name out as well, but she wasn’t able to separate his voice from the wind howling in her ears.

Thunder boomed in the sky, followed by more lightning, wind, and rain. The two Avians were tossed about in the storm like toys to a toddler having a temper- tantrum. And yet, the tornado grew even more as if it was fueled by the destruction it caused.

Aaron finally managed to whip out his right wing, using it to slow his movement. Unfortunately, the storm had other plans. The wind increased, throwing whatever composure Aaron had managed to gain out the window. To add to that, an extra gust pushed the crook of the boy’s wing in. Too far in.

Maria was able to hear the cry of pain even from where she was. Her eyes widened. But before she could call out, the wind pushed her straight into the tornado. Then the information from her Severe Weather Survival classes kicked in and Maria tucked her arms around her head, tucked her knees to her chest, and folded her wings around her legs to form a ball of feathers.

There was a sudden change in direction. Instead of being tossed around in the sky, gravity finally took ahold of Maria, throwing her in the direction of the ground. And just before she collided, Maria unfurled her wings and stumbled onto the dry, dead grass, curling up on the ground with her head covered by her arms and wings. Then the wind stopped, and everything went still.

_The eye of the storm,_ Maria realized. She took a peek out from her fingers and feathers, eyes widening at the sight.

The area above was clear and dark blue, traces of the last rays of sunshine disappearing behind the circumference of gray clouds. No rain hit the ground, no lightning scorched the sky, no thunder shook the world. The grass under Maria didn’t move even as she stood up on shaky, bruised and bleeding legs. The wall of gray surrounding her was still spinning, making Maria dizzy with every movement. The area in the middle of the tornado was about the size of a baseball field, stretching in a complete circle around Maria.

She tried calling out to Aaron, but stopped when she doubled over in a coughing fit, her wings curling in to her sides. Then the wind picked up, tossing Maria’s brown hair into her face and sending clumps of dirt into the air. She blinked the dust out of her eyes and clenched her fists, glaring at the sky.

Maria had to find Aaron. She couldn’t lose him only hours after they left Aerlo. Not when they had so much at stake.

“Aaron! Aaron, where are you?” she called with all that was left in her. Then an idea hit her. Maria pulled out her blaster, ducked her head, and fired a shot into the sky.

The sound echoed around her, despite the shrieking wind growing stronger by the second. The light that had emitted from the blast must have reached at least a mile or two from the area, thanks to the darkness clouding the sky and ground.

Then Maria was in the tornado’s grasp once more. She had just enough time to tuck her weapon into her pocket before the wind picked her up once more, throwing her body into the gray mass of darkness.

 

Pain. That was all that echoed throughout his body, the source coming from his broken wing. Aaron growled a curse through gritted teeth and attempted to get onto his knees, pushing himself up with shaking arms.

Luckily, the Avian boy had had the sense to take cover on the ground, just as Maria had done. Just with a much less graceful landing.

The tornado had passed about half an hour ago, leaving a broken landscape behind to rot. Aaron had tried to call out for Maria after seeing one of her blasts shoot into the sky, but his cries were fruitless. The two Avians were miles away from each other. And without the advantage of flight, Aaron was helpless on the ground.

After making an improvisational splint for his wing with half of the medical supplies he had split with Maria, Aaron decided to complete the rest of the journey by foot until his accelerated healing factors kicked in. As agreed with Maria, the plan was to get to the coordinates as fast as possible if the two were separated by any chance. But Aaron didn’t know that it would take such little time to lose each other.

The Avian stood up slowly, testing out the weight of his unbalanced wings on his back and pulled out a solar light stick from his flight suit pocket, smacking the flat end of it to activate the device. A bright, yellow glow burst from the stick, lighting the ground several feet from around where it was casted.

Aaron re-strapped his thin bag onto his back and, holding the light stick in one hand and his sword in the other, made his way through the dark plains.

 

Maria knew she had to stick to the plan and get to the coordinates, but she couldn’t get the thought of Aaron getting hurt because of a reckless decision out of her head.

She circled the area one more time, scanning the ground for any signs of another’s presence. The tornado had passed only ten minutes before, and Maria had flown out into the open, windless skies gratefully. Nothing on the ground remained but torn-up rock, broken branches of long-dead trees, and clumps of dirt and dry, yellow grass.

Maria’s brow furrowed with worry as she checked the area one last time, finding nothing useful. Then she spun around in an arc and headed to what looked like a forest, doing her best to ignore the gut-twisting feeling in her stomach. Did life have to be so unfair that Maria was able to get out of a severe tornado with only gashes and bruises to show while her teammate was miles away with an injury ten times worse than hers?

Maria knew that life _was_ unfair. But what mattered the most was how well a person took it. They could either follow the course of life with little resistance and find a solution along the way, or they could fight it and only get themselves and others hurt in the end. Maria knew she couldn’t do the latter.

The Avian flapped her wings in faster beats, dismissing the ache between her shoulder blades and zooming across the sky.


	10. Chapter IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Eighty-one miles above Olera, two yards from land. Time: 16:59. Subject: Mer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the ninth chapter! Thanks for reading and please comment if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

**Two hours after leaving Olera. Location: Eighty-one miles above Olera, two yards from land.**

   Alana and Leo both knew there was going to be a hurricane the moment they spotted the darkness that settled over the ocean. After a brief conversation, the two agreed to get to the surface of the water. Man, it was far from what they had expected.

   As kids, all Merpeople were taught to never stray from the boundaries of Olera, tonever explore the land above, for they wouldn’t be able to move with their tails and all; then the VW’s would catch them and do all sorts of horrible things, bla, bla bla. Alana and Leo never really payed much attention in those classes. So it was a big surprise when they came to the shore for the first time in their life just to find hundreds of metal traps lined up on the sand in front of the beach, patiently waiting for a victim to fall into their clutches.

   “So... how do we get past?” Leo asked, tail sweeping frantically through the water, desperately fighting against the current.

   “The water above the traps is too narrow, we won’t be able to go through from above,” Alana noted, scanning the line of cages for any gaps or crevices where they could slip through. “Hey, I think I see-”

   A fat, silver fish barreled into her face. Leo started cracking up until a stray crab drifting through the water pinched his ear. Alana frowned and waved the fish away while Leo shrieked and frantically attempted to detach the crab.

   “Leo, the storm’s getting closer. We’ve got to come up with a plan,” Alana said, practically shouting now.

   Clumps of seaweed and kelp were spinning through the water. The waves and currents were getting stronger, shaking even the heaviest rocks in the water. Leo could tell from the giant, dead branches shooting into the sea that the hurricane was right above them.

   Then one of the traps sprang loose from where it was glued to, and havoc was unleashed.

   “Alana! Get down-” Leo barely had enough time to shout a warning before the metal cage caught ahold of another trap, tugging it along as it plowed towards the Mers.

   Alana managed to duck behind a large rock before the chain of traps crashed into one another, causing sand and stones to fly into the water.

   The noise was ear shattering. Forget nails on a chalkboard; the only thing echoing around was the shrieking of metal being bent, twisted, and scratched, rocks clashing against each other, and waves pounding the surface and everything around it.

   Leo wasn’t as fortunate as Alana was. Just before he could duck behind a rock, the current picked up at just the right moment, throwing him forwards and into the metal cages. Luckily, instead of crashing onto the sharp metal, Leo landed right in the gap of where a trap had once sat.

   For a moment, he was still, unlike his surroundings. Then he heard Alana’s voice call out to him, and everything came crashing down like a sledgehammer.

   Another wave pummeled the sand in front of Leo, sending him tumbling towards the land.

_The land._ Leo’s eyes widened.

   “Alana! Where are you?” he yelled. “I’m at the shore!”

   There was a heart-stopping pause. Then a response echoed back.

   “Behind the rocks! Stay where you are, I’ll-” Alana’s voice was cut off when Leo crashed into the beach, only coming to a stop when he was half out of the water.

   Immediately, his throat closed up, cutting off his air supply. Leo choked for air, gills flaring and chest heaving.

   Then, just as he started to see black spots creeping into his vision, the heavy weight on his torso vanished, his airway opening, and he gasped for breath. Once his heart rate slowed to a normal state, Leo sat up and faced the ocean, eyes widening at the sight.

   The water had turned completely black, remnants of the metal traps still bobbing on the harsh waves. Dark cumulonimbus clouds crowded the sky, lightning flashing ahead and thunder booming all around. A heavy rainfall had started, making the water even more choppier than it had been before. Violent winds whipped sand into the air, shook even the heaviest of trees, and pounded the sea into the ground.

   The tide was rising. Soon, the beach would be flooded. Leo had to get out of there. He started to stand up, feeling very light-headed.

   Wait. _Stand up?_

   Leo’s head dropped to where his tail should have been. Just like in a cliche mermaid movie, his tail had been replaced by a pair of legs. Legs with hints of transparent blue scales on the ankles, between the toes, and base of the foot. Leo’s eyes widened and smiled. _Wait till I tell Alana about this!_ Now he could walk, run, and do all kinds of other cool stuff! He could get out of that place without any struggle at all!

   Leo took one step forward and passed out.

 

   Alana didn’t know where Leo had gone. Was he alright? Had he made it to the surface? She didn’t doubt for a second that the Mer had somehow gotten into a troublesome situation within minutes after being separated from her.

   Alana had adapted to her new shifting ability much more sensibly than Leo had. Rather than trying to start walking and test her legs out, Alana had torn some of the loose fabric from the robe she was wearing and tied it tightly around her ankles for support. Then, using a stray branch as a walking stick, Alana had taken a left to find a large desert, spotted with dry trees and shrubs here and there. Alana decided to make camp there. In her logic book, a wide, open area would be an easier place to escape from intruders if needed.

   A glowing algae stone illuminated Alana’s camp. The sun had long left the sky, leaving pitch darkness. The only light source came from the bright stars, two moons, and Alana’s algae stone.

   Alana had spent her time observing her surroundings, picking at the trees, shrubs, and ground. After years of never leaving the ocean, she was ecstatic to discover the new things on land, despite her fatigue.

   Alana had also taken an interest in her legs, which, like Leo’s, had faint, almost completely transparent, purple scales dotting around her ankles, toes, and at the base of her feet. Translucent webbing still stretched between her fingers and toes and the faint lines on her neck marked where her gills had once been. Like her legs, pale purple scales clustered in faded patches at her forehead, corners of her eyes, bridge of her nose, cheekbones, right underneath her bottom lip, and on the back of her hands.

   But despite her excitement, Alana still had a problem. She and Leo had only planned up to the part where they arrived at the beach. From there, they would have made a plan to get to the coordinates Augura had given them. They hadn’t planned on getting separated. Or what to do if they did.

   After a moment of thinking, Alana decided she would search for Leo the next morning, and if she couldn’t find him, to continue farther into the desert and hope to miraculously run into him.

_But,_ Alana thought, shifting around underneath the tent. _Sleep first._


	11. Chapter X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Geo. Time: 15:08. Subject: Transformer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tenth chapter!  
> Writing this chapter brought tears to my eyes, but I got it done!  
> Thank you all for reading and as always, please comment down below if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!  
> Notice: I will be taking a break for school finals and won't be updating until January 2018! Sorry (not sorry) for the cliffhanger!

**Thirty minutes after Augura’s visit. Location: The main chamber in Geo.**

   “So how do we get out?” Daya asked, staring at the ceiling in the main chamber.

   “Ok, so I’ve been making something for a while-” Marco started.

   “Wait, how? You’re not good at inventing stuff. Remember when you tried to make the Particle Gun 2.0?”

   Marco threw her a look but ignored the comment. “I’ve gotten better. I’m calling it a Phasing Particle Transformer. It’s a one-time use only, but I think it’ll get us through the rock leading to the surface,” He dug through his back and came up with a small blaster with blue stripes running along its pale, white surface. “The PPT changes solid matter into minuscule versions of it within a fraction of a second. Thus, the name ‘Phasing.’ But it only lasts twelve seconds, from what I’ve calculated. Once twelve seconds is up, the particles will reform into what they had been before. So when I phase a hole into the ceiling, we’ll have to act fast. Ok?”

   “Yeah, sure. Get through the hole before twelve seconds is up. But if you haven’t noticed,” Daya gestured to the ceiling, which was about nine feet above them. “Unless we turn into a lizard or something, we can’t get up there. And even if we do, we won’t be fast enough to get through the hole. I mean, who knows how far we are underground.”

   “About thirty feet down,” Marco said. “So we’ll change into lizards, crawl up to the base of the hole, then change into a fox and hop the sides of the walls to get up. Alternate hopping to each side when you’re climbing up, ok?”

   Daya nodded. “Wait, did you get a distraction for the Council?”

   “Yeah. I got the snail into the tunnel.” Marco gave a dark smile and tapped his temple with his left index finger. “They can’t stop us if they can’t catch up to us.” Marco hefted the blaster. “Alright. You get by the hole first. When I fire, change and get up as fast as you can!”

   “See you at the top,” Daya said just before she shifted into a small, orange spotted gecko and crawled up to where Marco pointed the blaster.

   “Ok. Firing in three...” Ready.

   “Two...” Aim.

   “One.” _Fire_.

   There was a flash and a big whoosh of air. A ball of white light flew out of the nozzle and hit the ceiling. Dirt, dust, and rocks were sucked up into the ball, disappearing at contact. The hole went all the way to the surface. Marco could see light. He could see the sky.

   Then the ball started to shake. A vibrating noise emitted from it with each passing second.

   “Daya! Go!” Marco shouted, stuffing the blaster into his pocket and shifted into a gecko.

   Daya was already halfway up the tunnel, gracefully bouncing off the sides of the walls in the form of a snow fox.

_10 seconds._

   Marco was just at the entrance of the hole and was about to shift when he heard the voices. A quick glance down revealed the Council of Geo rushing to the site. _I guess my “There’s a wild, gigantic snail in the South Tunnel!” plan didn’t work as well as I hoped it would,_ Marco thought as he shifted into a red fox. The elderly members gawked and shouted at Marco when they saw the hole.

    _9._

   No one did anything, though. They just stood there and shouted at each other. By the time they stopped arguing a moment later, Marco was halfway up the tunnel.

  _8._

   Marco was completely blind. After never having been exposed to natural light for fifteen years, the sun’s glare was excruciating. But, somehow, he still managed to hop on the sides of the walls, making slow, but steady progress.

  _7._

   His eyes finally adjusted after what seemed like forever. He saw a figure at the end of the hole. Daya. The sight brought a rush of adrenaline back into him.

  _6._

   She had gotten out! Marco almost sighed with relief before reminding himself that he wasn’t out of hot water yet. He kept climbing up.

  _5._

   Marco’s leg muscles were starting to burn. His eyes were tired from squinting. His progress was slowing dramatically.

  _4._

   He was three-fourths into the hole. Fatigue washed over him like a wave crashing onto a beach. Faintly, he could hear Daya shrieking at him to get up. To go faster. The Council’s voices were gone, blocked by the thickness of the stones. But mostly, he could hear the sound of crashing rocks. Right behind him.

  _3._

   He wasn’t going to make it. The exit was only a couple feet ahead. But to Marco, it seemed like a million miles.

_2._

   He could feel rocks and dirt rising behind him, nipping at his heels and tail. Daya was reaching down now, almost falling back into the hole. Marco wanted to shout at her to get up, to get somewhere safe. Get to the place Augura said to go to.

    _1._

   Marco’s leg slipped.

   He lost his grip.

   Gravity’s clawed hand grasped him.

   Daya was screaming, horrorstruck.

   The rocks came up to claim his body.

    _0._

   Daya’s voice was cut off.

   There was absolute silence.

   There was no air.

   No light.

   He couldn’t breathe.

   His chest would not move.

    _Daya,_

   He could feel himself dying.

_Fulfill what I couldn’t..._

   Silence.

    _See what you’ve always wanted to see..._

   Darkness.

    _Spend your life however you want to..._

   He smiled.

  _Don’t let anyone take your freedom away..._

   Marco closed his eyes.


	12. Chapter XI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: the beach. Subject: Mer, Avian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year!  
> This part was really fun to write, so I hope you enjoy Chapter 11!  
> As always, thanks for reading and please comment down below if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

**First morning after Augura’s visit. Location: The beach. Days left: 4.**

   Leo awoke to a bright light behind his eyes. _Wow_ , he thought. _I’m already dead? Dang it. I didn’t even get to finish that one game of Digcraft with my little sister. Leo pouted. And I was hoping my death would be a lot more dramatic, or something._

   Something wet and sticky dropped onto his face.

    _Wow. Are these the tears of the angels crying because of my amazing charm and-_

   Another drop landed at the corner of his mouth and Leo finally snapped his eyes open and sat up, wiping at the liquid substance. Or, now that he realized, bird poop.

   “Augh! Gross!” Leo screeched as he wiped his mouth on his robe. “I’m not dead yet! Stop crapping on me!” Leo shrieked at the sky where two seagulls circled around him. He was wiping the rest of the bird dung off his face when a stab of pain streaked through his head and Leo groaned, laying back down onto the soft, warm sand.

  _Wait a second. Sand?_

   Then it hit him like a sledgehammer to the face. Leo remembered the night before; leaving Olera, the storm, being separate from Alana. _Alana_. Where was she? Leo frowned. _Where am I?_

   He waited until his head stopped spinning before trying to get to his feet. The process was like trying to stand up after not standing up for... well, fifteen and a half years, to be exact.

   But Leo got it the hang of it within two hours. By the time he got comfortable with running, it was about ten in the morning. Leo dumped all his belongings in a certain spot started to wander around the beach while staying within a couple yards of his bag, trying to come up with a plan. Well, he was mostly just eating an energy bar from his stash of food and attempting to think at the same time.

   So he had four days left to get to the coordinates. Alana was smart enough to start making her way there. But maybe Leo should just look around the beach in case she hadn’t made it off?

   Finally, he came to a decision. _I’ll get to the desert once I check the beach for signs of Alana. If she’s not here, I’ll go team up with whoever I find in the desert. Probably one of the other four... teammates?_

   Leo finished the granola bar, wiped his hands on the tattered, black robe that had, miraculously survived, and started walking down the stretch of the beach.

 

   Aaron swore loudly as he slipped on the sand and landed on his hands and knees for the hundredth time. He had caught a little bit of sleep once he was clear of the tornado’s radar and had continued on his way the second the sun broke into the dark sky. His exhaustion was very obvious as Aaron stumbled towards the ocean a couple yards ahead.

   The scenery had changed drastically from what he had seen the day before. Barren desert turned into a long beach littered with debris, such as broken tree branches, seaweed bits, crusty seashells, and seagull feathers. The sun was blazing through the thin layer of clouds that covered the sky and the sharp smell of the ocean drifted through the air like leaves on a warm breeze.

   Aaron’s wing was almost fully healed and he’d taken the splint off a couple miles back. Now he was headed to the sea to restock his inventory. That is, until he heard shuffling in a patch of trees up ahead.

   Aaron spun around to that direction, his hand on the hilt of his sword. A flash of teal blue passed between the trunks.

   The Avian quickly pulled his sword out of its sheath and approached the tree with the most shuffling. The second he got within striking range of the tree, the shuffling stopped and everything was still. A slight gust of wind rustled the leaves and Aaron saw a beetle scuttle down the trunk out of the corner of his eye.

   There was complete silence for a long moment. Aaron was still holding his sword up, ready to strike at any given moment.

 

   Leo was hiding behind the leaves of the tree. A quick glance at the person’s wings and sword and Leo had run for cover. Now he was cornered, with three trees behind him and to his sides. There was a thick clump of vines and leaves hanging in front of his body, hiding him from the being ahead.

   The person suddenly started walking towards Leo and was just about to brush aside the vines separating them when the Mer made a split second decision.

   Leo jumped and tackled the dang thing.

 

   Aaron had expected a large creature or monster to jump out at him. Not a _kid_. The two fell to the sand, grappling at the other’s limbs and struggling for dominance. After about two minutes of wrestling on the ground, Aaron swept his wing out in a huge arc, throwing him and the other boy ten feet away from each other. They both sat up after a moment to orient themselves and Aaron finally saw the other up close. The boy was about his age with tan skin and bright blue eyes that gawked at Aaron’s own red ones. He wore a thin, black robe that wrapped around his small torso and covered him to his knees. Faint and almost unnoticeable teal scales decorated the boy’s face and palms in a foreign pattern. His shaggy brown hair was tousled and stiff with salt.

   The air was knocked out of Leo as he landed heavily on his back. The _Avian_ , now that he realized what the kid was, landed a bit farther away.

   Leo took this chance to see what the kid looked like. He looked a little bit older than Leo but was about an inch shorter than him. His wings were huge; each wing a bit bigger than the boy himself. They were black with faint flecks of red. The kid wore all black that contrasted well with his pale skin and he had dark shaggy hair that made his (freaky) red eyes seem hooded. To Leo, the Avian could have been his evil clone, but with fairer skin and wings. His sword had been knocked out of his hand in the scuffle and was imbedded in the sand back where the trees were.

   Then the Avian sat up as Leo did and spotted his weapon. He was just about to make a run for it when Leo did the last thing he thought he would do.

   Leo started shrieking like a banshee.

    _Why the heck do I do these kinds of things?_ He asked himself. Luckily, his sudden action startled the Avian and he froze like a deer in headlights.

   Maybe it was because he had no idea what to do or maybe it was an Avian instinct or something, but the kid started shrieking as well.

   Now the two of them were just screaming for some unapparent reason. At least, until Leo paused to catch his breath. Then he resumed screaming again.

 

   Aaron swore this kid had an extra lung or something because he could shriek like he was witnessing the world on fire.

   Finally, the shrieking contest ended when the other boy pointed and yelled. “Who the heck are you?!”

   Surprised by his sudden comment, Aaron pointed back. “Who are _you?!_ ”

   The boy didn’t even respond to the question, instead yelling, “You have wings!”

   Aaron, still a bit confused, decided to play along. “Well, you have...” He peered around the kid, looking for something noticeable. “Gills?” _Wait, this boy is a Mer?_ Aaron wondered. _I thought they couldn’t walk on land._

   “Yeah? Well you’ve got a giant sword!” The Mer retorted, gesturing to the weapon sticking out of the sand.

   “You have scales!” Aaron countered.

   “You have...” The boy was stumped, scanning Aaron for anything distinctly different. “Feathers...?”

   Aaron inwardly cringed. Even the Mer knew that his answer was forehead-slapping worthy. They sat in awkward silence for a long moment with nothing but the sound of the waves hitting the beach to fill the gap.

   The Mer kid started flicking sand with his toes, most of it landing on Aaron. Finally, the Avian growled at him, “Would you stop that?” When the boy didn’t stop, Aaron ground his teeth together and got onto his knees, stretching his wings out. “I don’t have time for this. I have to get to the desert now-”

   At those words, the Mer’s eyes lit up and he asked, “Wait a second, are you one of the six people that that witch lady told to save Xenos?”

   The question was the final puzzle piece as to who this kid was. Aaron realized that the boy was one of the Mers from Olera who had been friends with Xenos. _Friends with Xenos._ The sentence echoed through his head. But did this kid being a friend of Xenos make him a friend of Aaron’s too? He seemed pretty harmless in general. Except for that wicked sharp spear strapped to his back. Aaron decided to trust him.

   “Yeah. And I assume that you’re the Mer?” Aaron said. He didn’t wait for the boy to respond. “What’s your name?”

   “I’m not going first. What’s _your_ name?” The Mer said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

   “Aaron,” The Avian huffed.

   “Great. I’m glad we got that sorted out. I’m Leo and I’d shake your hand if we weren’t sitting ten feet apart and you hadn’t just previously tried impaling me with your sword.” Leo said, grinning.

   “ _Me_? Impaling _you_? You’re the one who jumped out of the bushes and tackled me!” Aaron snapped.

   Leo shrugged and raised his hands in defense. “Well, I wasn’t the one reaching for the bloody sword-”

“Say another word and that ‘bloody sword’ won’t be stuck in the sand anymore,” Aaron growled.

   Leo laughed. “Chill, man. I was just joking.” Leo stood up and wiped the sand and pebbles off his robe. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re really hot tempered?”

   Aaron glared at him but refrained himself from snapping back. He dusted his shirt off and walked towards where his sword was buried. “So, are we teaming up or something? Not that I want to, but it would make the most sense for survival.”

   “Yeah, sure. I mean, I couldn’t find Alana anywhere around the beach, so she must have headed towards the coordinates. You got them too, right?”

   Aaron nodded and shook the sand from between his feathers, wincing as clumps of grains stuck underneath his feathers like glue. “Yeah, I did. Maria and I also got separated by the storm that passed through.”

   “Are you sure she didn’t just ditch you? Honestly, I wouldn’t blame her.” Leo snorted before quickly ducking as a stone came soaring through the air and past his shoulder.

   “I wouldn’t blame Alana either if she ditched you too,” Aaron snarled and Leo pouted, at loss for any retorts. “Now, let’s get moving. It’s already,” Aaron put his index and middle fingers together and counted the spaces between the horizon and the sun. “Around half-past eleven.”

   “Can’t you just say eleven- thirty?” Leo asked, hitching his satchel up higher on his shoulder.

   Aaron ground his teeth together, a hair away from throttling the kid. He was already walking towards the rocks separating the beach from the woods. “I am _not_ having this conversation with you,” he said, sighing exasperatingly when Leo tripped and went rolling past him down the hill leading to the forest. _What the heck made me decide to team up with this annoying idiot?_ Leo gave him a thumbs up from below, still grinning. Aaron scoffed, wondering if Maria will have better luck with the teammate she finds.


	13. Chapter XIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Geo. Time: 9 years ago. Subject: Shifter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter came out really late. I've had a writer's block for a while now, but things are slowly improving.  
> Also, I decided that the word Transformers will now be replaced with Shifters. With 12 chapters that I'd have to edit if I wanted to replace the word, I'm just going to let the change roll from here on out, so please make note of that!  
> Anyways, thank you all for reading and please comment down below if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

    **9 years ago. Location: The main chamber in Geo.**

   “C’mon, Marco! We’re gonna be late!” Six-year old Daya was already at the end of the tunnel, books in one hand and waving to her friend with the other. Her frizzy brown hair stood up in all directions, a result from refusing to brush it in the morning.

   “Ok,” Marco panted when he caught up. “Let’s go!” And with that, the two ran off to the elementary school in the main chamber.

   Marco and Daya were about the same age. They’d met when they were four at the market. Trevor had dragged Daya away from her little trinkets to get her new clothes for school. Marco had somehow wandered away from home with nothing but his favorite book and ginormous glasses to accompany him. While Trevor browsed in the isles filled with pink and purple skirts, Daya found Marco sitting against the wall of the small library Geo had, reading his giant book.

   “What’re you reading?” Daya had asked.

   Marco peered up at her. Daya thought he looked like an owl with his big, round glasses. “It’s called _The Big Book of Variabilis,_ ” he answered.

   “It looks new,” Daya noted.

   Marco misheard this as: “It looks ew,” and retorted back, “That’s not very nice!” He was not liking this new girl.

   Daya frowned. “But having new things is a compliment. A lot of things down here are old and used.” This little boy was confusing her. His magnified owl eyes didn’t help the situation either, and she was starting to feel self-conscious.

   Instead of staying on that conversation, he showed the front of the book, a picture of a planet divided into three sections. One person stood on the world for each domain.“Do you want to read it too?” he offered. Daya nodded and sat beside him.

   The two read for almost two hours before Trevor came for Daya.

   “What’s your name?” Daya asked just before she was dragged away.

   Marco spared her a glance. “Marco. What’s yours?”

   “Daya.”

   The little boy smiled. “I’ll see you later, Daya."

 

   “There are many species’ currently living on Variabilis. The main ones including Avians, Merpeople, and us, Shifters.” The teacher paced the room, reading from a textbook alike to the ones sitting at the desks of the students. “Avians are a hybrid-like species, a combination of birds and humans. Merpeople are also hybrids, a combination of fish and humans- Yes, Susie, ‘fishie’ as in your imaginary goldfish Fred.”

   The little girl stroked the pebble lying on her desk.

   The teacher paused to clear her throat. “Now, on to the history of Geo-”

   A giant chunk of the ceiling suddenly crashed to the ground, the blinding, white lights of the tunnel pouring into the classroom. The students started to panic and shriek. As the teacher attempted to calm them, there was a mix of laughter and swearing coming from the back of the room.

   The class quickly quieted, the only sound left was a few giggles and some more soft swears. There, standing right underneath the hole in the ceiling, was none other than Marco and Daya.

   Daya held a small contraption in her hand that looked suspiciously like a shrink-ray gun. Marco stood with a deer-in-the-headlights expression and a remote in his hand, one finger still hovering over the red button.

   Daya gave a guilty smile and slowly set the contraption on the floor. It shattered at the impact and the students flinched.

   Marco and Daya were suspended for an entire month. After that, they didn’t try to escape from school. Rather, they tried to escape Geo itself.

 

   “Attention citizens of Geo. We have just received news of the volunteers that left five years ago to attain a peace treaty with the Vortex Warriors-” The announcement cut off in a burst of static before the speaker could finish.

   Daya and Marco had been busy building their newest mechanism until they heard the report, pausing immediately before sharing a knowing glance at each other.

   Marco’s mother had been one of the scouts.

   The intercom crackled back to life. “Sorry about the inconvenience. We’re having some technical difficulties-” Almost as if in cue, the speakers cut off again, leaving Marco and Daya in anxious silence.

   “-that we can assure we will fix in time. News of the scouts have returned...” The speaker went silent and Daya thought that it had cut out once more until the woman spoke again, this time in a softer voice.

    _“They’ve all been murdered.”_

   There was not a single sound throughout Geo. The quiet was suffocating the air out of Daya’s lungs. The speaker was still talking in the background of static buzzing in her mind. Her hands shook and her breathing was ragged, causing her mind to spin and her eyes to lose focus.

   “She promised me...”

   Daya slowly turned her head towards the voice and let out a soft gasp. Marco was staring at the end of the tunnel where the lights flickered in the distance. Tears fell down his ghostly white face soundlessly. His whole body trembled. His face remained frozen in a look of horror.

   “She _promised_ me.”

   “Marco-”

   “She _promised_ she’d come back!”

   “I’m sorry-”

   “And she _LIED_ -”

   The girl reached out for Marco. Before her hand could come into contact with him, Marco’s fingers suddenly lengthened into claws and a dark ink-like substance climbed up his arms like vines.

   The boy recoiled, a terrifying look in his eyes that Daya could only describe as shattered. Broken. Devastated. Traumatized. _Frightening_.

_“Get away from me.”_

   Those four simple but powerful words almost made Daya comply, if not for the fact that Marco was her _friend_.

   Despite his monstrous form, she took a step towards him. Then another. And another.

   The ink had spread to its- his neck, its black vein-like pattern almost hypnotizing. The words _“not a monster, not a monster”_ filled Daya’s mind until that was the only thing she knew.

   The boy managed to take one step back before his legs gave out, collapsing on the ground at the girl’s feet, sobbing uncontrollably. His claws retracted into human fingers and the darkness faded from his skin like a once beautiful flower decomposing into the earth. Daya sat down and wrapped her arms around the shaking figure, feeling tears of pain and hopelessness soak her shirt. She let him curl up in her arms, shielding him from this world of tragedy and despair, taking in the pain meant for him onto herself and not uttering a word.

   Daya and Marco rocked back and forth slowly, both unknowing if they would ever heal from this day onwards. But no matter the outcome, they would _never_ abandon the other. They _couldn’t_.

 

   Daya stood back and marveled at their creation. No, it wasn’t a new machine they had built this time. It was normal art. No shrinking lasers, no enchanted pickaxes, no nothing. It was just art made from broken inventions and defective ideas.

   There were countless broken machine parts all imbedded into the hardened clay wall at the end of the tunnel. It was a giant picture of a planet with people surrounding the outside. They were all linked together by their hands. There were faint marks inside the planet, dividing the area into three parts.

   Daya sat down and pulled out a book. _The Big Book of Variabilis_ , it read. Daya smiled as she skimmed through the words, flipping the pages only to look at the illustrations.

   “What’re you reading?”

   Daya spun around to see Marco crouching behind her, a grin on his face.

   Daya pushed imaginary glasses up her nose and stuck the book up in her face, hiding her expression. “It’s called _The Big Book of Variabilis._ ” Daya mimicked a grumpy, low voice. “Now, leave me alone. I’m antisocial.”

   Marco gave her a friendly shove and flopped down next to her, a smile on his face. Then they sat in silence for a long time, staring up at the magnificent fabrication on the wall.

   “What would it be like up there?” Marco asked.

   Daya shrugged. “I don’t know. Bigger. Brighter. Colorful.”

   There was a pause, then Marco spoke up.

   “I swear that I’m going to find a way out of here. Even if it kills me.” He turned to Daya. “And I’ll bring you with me.”

   “We’re supposed to be extremely culturally developed, Marco. It could go vice-versa,” Daya countered. “I could get us out and bring _you_ with _me_.”

   They shared a knowing smirk. It would be almost impossible to tell that just a year ago, Marco had transformed into a monster when he heard the news of his mother’s death, or that Daya had turned into his grounder, his stone in a river current, his _family_. But what everyone in Geo _did_ know was that once Daya and Marco made up their minds on something, there was no stopping them.

   They were going to get the _hell_ out of there.


	14. Chapter XIV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Location: Above Geo. Time: Approximately 1 hour after Augura's visit. Subject: Shifter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The fourteenth chapter! (The chapters actually got messed up because I split one in half a while back but didn't update it on here.)  
> The moment has finally come! Will Marco be saved? Or will Daya choose the mission over him?  
> This chapter is pretty short compared to the others because I split it in half (again), so the next update will contain the second part!  
> Sorry for the slow update, yet again. I probably won't be able to update often in the upcoming months because of finals and state tests.  
> But, as always, thank you all for reading and please comment down below if you find any grammar/spelling/etc mistakes or have any questions about the story!

**Approximately 1 hour after Augura’s visit. Location: Above Geo.**

   Daya was an unstoppable digging machine. Fatigue wasn’t a word in her vocabulary at the moment. Adrenaline and desperation was all that was pumping through her veins. She was not going to just watch her best friend die in front of her eyes and sit and sob about it. No. She was going to dig him out as fast as she could _while_ sobbing. It didn’t even occur to her to shift into a larger animal. She was too frantic to get Marco out.

   Only five minutes must have passed, but it seemed like a hundred lifetimes to Daya as she created a deeper hole with each passing second. Then she saw a flash of dark red fur.

   As she dug deeper, a furry paw was uncovered. Then an arm. And the tips of black tinted ears. This was all the motivation she needed. Within a fraction of a second, she turned from a digging machine that was low on batteries to a literal inhuman drilling monster.

   She got Marco’s upper half of his body out of the ground and was able to pull him up from there. A few seconds after emerging from the ground, Marco shifted back into his original form.

   He was barely recognizable. Dust and dirt covered every centimeter of his body. His glasses were cracked and bent. The edges of his clothes were torn and frayed. His normally blond buzzcut was practically brown with the amount of filth in it.

   Daya smiled and caught her breath before gently touching her fingers to the boy’s neck for a stable pulse.

   Silence.

   A variety of things went through her head in an instant. Confusion was first.

   Daya adjusted her hand.

   Silence.

   Disbelief. Daya checked the boy’s wrist.

   Silence.

   Shock. Marco was _dead._ Daya was too late. She was _alone_ now _._ Marco was _gone. It was all her fault._

   These feelings are what sparked a desperate motivation to save her friend. Daya rolled Marco off her lap and onto the ground face-up. She laid one hand over the other, pressed them onto the boy’s chest, and pushed _hard._

   When there was no response, Daya pushed again. And again. And again. The word was chanting in her mind, sounding as loud as drums and yet as quiet as a butterfly’s wings flapping. Every fifteen pumps, Daya checked for a pulse.

   Nothing.

   Her thoughts clashed with each other, some trying to convince her to stop, that Marco was _dead_ and there was _nothing_ she could do about it. But other thoughts were clinging to a thin thread of- what she hoped wasn’t false- hope. Fortunately, those are what kept her going.

   Daya couldn’t tell how long had passed. A minute? Half an hour? A day? Time was irrelevant to her. But pain definitely wasn’t. Her arms burned from climbing out of Geo and pushing so hard, her hunched back ached, and her knees were scraped up from kneeling on the brittle rock for so long. But if this is what it took to save her friend, Daya would endure years of this pain to bring him back.

   Black spots were starting to cloud the edges of her vision. Daya’s breaths came in uneven gasps. Each pump of her arms was uncoordinated. Blood rushed so loudly in her ears it sounded as if she were sitting next to a speeding river.

   Finally, Daya cried out as she gave one last push with all of the strength left in her broken body.

   Marco’s eyes snapped open.

   The boy started gasping, coughing, and choking all at once. He rolled onto his side and threw-up a big mess of dirt and spit. Daya sighed in relief, draping her exhausted body around him and weeping.

   Marco stopped hacking and rolled back onto his back, throwing an arm over his eyes and groaning. Daya managed to tear herself away from the half-conscious boy, sitting back on her haunches to slow her erratic breathing and nurse her wounds.

   Marco took a moment to catch his breath before speaking again in a croaky voice. “Well, I feel like absolute shi-”

   “Shut up.” Daya said wiping grime and tears from her face. “I just saved your life. You’re not allowed to complain.”

   Marco scoffed and smiled weakly. “I think one of my ribs is broken but,” he laid his hand on top of Daya’s and squeezed it. “Thank you.”

   Daya smiled and sniffed as tears of relief fell down her cheeks. “Anytime.”

   She made sure to keep Marco’s hand in a soft but firm grip as he lost consciousness.

_“Thank you for staying with me...”_


End file.
